Eight of the 12 counties served by the Northwest Minnesota Foundation (NMF) have a greater-than-average percentage of households struggling to pay basic living expenses.
These households – categorized as “ALICE”, or Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed – earn more than the federal poverty level but still face financial instability given their wages and the costs of everyday needs. These households are significantly challenged to cover all their essential costs, perhaps weighing whether to pay rent or child care in any given month.
NMF contributed $5,000 to the Greater Twin Cities United Way to support the ALICE initiative which has released a report on the state’s ALICE populations. The opportunity to support ALICE was made possible when Denae Alamano, Executive Director of United Way of Bemidji Area, reached out to NMF. Denae shared the value this data would bring to communities across the region to begin addressing the issue of more households struggling to cover basic living expenses.
Now released, that data has revealed:
- In Minnesota, 26% of households were classified as ALICE while another 10% were below that federal poverty level. Together, that means 36% of households are under the ALICE threshold.
- 8 of our 12 Northwest Minnesota counties have ALICE population percentages higher than the statewide average.
- Beltrami: 28% ALICE, 14% in poverty
- Clearwater: 28% ALICE, 15% in poverty
- Hubbard: 26% ALICE, 11% in poverty
- Lake of the Woods: 31% ALICE, 10% in poverty
- Mahnomen: 36% ALICE, 18% in poverty
- Norman: 27% ALICE, 11% in poverty
- Polk: 27% ALICE, 11% in poverty
- Roseau: 26% ALICE, 14% in poverty
- 70% of the population in Blackduck is below the ALICE threshold.
- 69% of the Williams population is also below that threshold.
- 68% of the Erskine population
- 63% of Mahnomen (city) population
- In Polk County, while the number of households below the poverty line has decreased since 2010 from 1,474 to 1,387, the number of ALICE households has increased from 2,537 to 3,428.
Speaking to those figures in Polk County, Cory Boushee, Director of Programs at NMF, said that trend is apparent throughout the region, “The data is clear that more and more people are needing assistance from our vital partners and social service providers to make ends meet.”
But the data is just one step. The work now continues as essential service providers will use the data to better understand needs, set strategic plans, and secure funding to support community.
“This data will assist communities in providing essential services for community members who are struggling, community members like teachers, nurses, and social service providers,” Michelle Roers, senior vice president of Strategies for ALICE.
The effort is a statewide United Way initiative with the goal of engaging community partners, funders, and legislators to ensure finding can have maximum effort where it is most needed.
“ALICE is more than a data set,” wrote the Greater Twin Cities United Way, in the initial grant application to NMF. “With ALICE, we can better understand the demographics and reality of those working paycheck to paycheck. It comes with our commitment to engage researchers and a cross-sector steering committee from across the state, which will amplify its quality and impact potential.”
You can learn more about this effort, and explore the data, at https://unitedforalice.org/state-overview/minnesota
